''Singam'' () is a 2010 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

written and directed by

Hari Hari () is among the primary epithets of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, meaning 'the one who takes away' (sins). It refers to the one who removes darkness and illusion, the one who removes all obstacles to spiritual progress. The name Ha ...

. Produced by K. E. Gnanavel Raja's

Studio Green Studio Green is an Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai. The company was founded in 2006 by K. E. Gnanavel Raja, relative of actor Sivakumar and many of their films feature his sons Suriya and Karthi. They have pr ...

and Reliance BIG Entertainment, ans distributed by

Sun Pictures Sun Pictures is an Indian film production and film distribution based in Chennai, India. It is a division of Sun TV Network a part of the Sun Group. In 2010, it started producing films, the first film was '' Enthiran'' which was a huge blo ...

, it is the first installment in the ''Singam'' film series. The film stars Suriya in the main lead role, alongside

Anushka Shetty Sweety Shetty (born 7 November 1981), known by her stage name Anushka Shetty, is an Indian actress known for her works in Telugu and Tamil cinema. She is the recipient of three Filmfare Awards South, two Nandi Awards, two SIIMA Awards and o ...

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...

and Vivek. ''Singam'' was released on 28 May 2010 and became the third highest-grossing Tamil film at the time, only behind '' Sivaji: The Boss'' and ''

Dasavathaaram ''Dasavathaaram'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language epic science fiction action film directed by K. S. Ravikumar, written by Kamal Haasan and produced by V. Ravichandran under Aascar Film Pvt. Ltd. It stars Kamal Haasan in ten distinct rol ...

''. It was remade in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

as ''

Kempe Gowda Kempe Gowda I (27 June 1510 – 1569) locally venerated as Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda, or commonly known as Kempe Gowda, was a governor under the Vijayanagara Empire in early-modern India. He is famous for the development of Bengaluru Pete in th ...

'', in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as '' Singham'', in Bengali as ''

Shotru ''Shotru'' (Bengali: ''শত্রু'' ; English: ''Enemy)'' is a 2011 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Raj Chakraborty.' The film was produced by Ashok Dhanuka under the banner of Eskay Movies. It star ...

'', and in Punjabi as '' Singham''. It was followed by the sequels titled '' Singam II'' and '' Si3''.

Plot

Sub-Inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police or police sub-inspector (PSI), is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which are primarily based on the British model. It was form ...

Duraisingam "Singam", an honest police officer, lives in Nallur, a small village in

Thoothukudi district The Thoothukkudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. On 20 October 1986, an M. G. Ramachandran-led government bifurcated the Tirunelveli district to form the district. It is shared by its boundaries w ...

in southern Tamil Nadu, and is assisted by his bumbling colleague ''Yettu'' Erimalai. Singam belongs to Nallur with his father Soundarapandi, having a respectable status in the village. His family business is provision stores, and Singam wants to join it, but he joined the police force due to Soundarapandi's wishes. Singam resolves most of the problems in his village with

non-violence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

and mutual counselling. He uses force only when the situation demands it, thereby gaining much reputation and love from the villagers. Mahalingam, an industrialist in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and friend of Soundarapandi, arrives at the village with his daughters Kavya and Divya. Singam initially assumes Kavya as a prankster when she is about to prank her cousin by wearing a tiger costume. While roaming around the village, Singam accidentally slaps Kavya, but later apologizes to her. Kavya gets moved by this and slowly falls in love with him. After some hilarious incidents, Kavya professes her love to Singam. Initially taken aback, Singam reciprocates Kavya's love. Mayil Vaaganam, a

-based gangster infamous for extortion and kidnapping, is required to travel to Nallur to sign a conditional bail after forcing a builder to commit suicide. Mayil instead sends one of his allies to do the formalities, enraging Singam. Singam demands that Mayil sign the bail in person. A humiliated Mayil reaches Nallur, but is unable to take any revenge on Singam, fearing the immense love and devotion of the entire village towards Singam. Using his political contacts, Mayil gets Singam transferred to Chennai to teach him a lesson. Unaware of Mayil's hand behind his transfer, Singam joins Thiruvanmiyur police station. His co-worker SI Ravi hates Mayil for his crimes, but is unable to take any action because of Mayil's political powers. Singam's senior Rajendran is on Mayil's payroll and takes care in concealing and eliminating evidence of Mayil's crimes. The

police commissioner A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...

does not help Singam as there is unavailability of evidence against Mayil. Rajendran warns Singam to stay away from Mayil's case. Unable to take on Mayil in his stronghold, Singam wants to return to his village, but is stopped by Kavya, who encourages him to fight against Mayil and end his crime network. Being mentally tortured by Mayil, Singam arrests Mayil's brother Vaikuntam in a fake case of illegally smuggling

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

. He thwarts off Rajendran in full view of the public when Rajendran, bounded by his duties to Mayil, tries to protect the henchmen. Mayil kidnaps Divya for ransom. Singam rescues her with unexpected help from

Home Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

Ramanathan. Singam successfully traces the origins of the kidnapping racket to Mayil and also gets promoted to ACP of the specially-formed Anti-Kidnapping

Task Force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

. Mahalingam, who was hostile to Singam following an altercation with Soundarapandi back at Nallur, softens up and agrees to give him Kavya's hand in marriage. The entire police force, including the police commissioner and Rajendran, are now on Singam's side and help him to fight Mayil. They manage to kill Mayil's henchmen in an encounter at a hospital and begins to target everyone and everything related to Mayil. In retribution, Mayil starts targeting everyone close to Singam, including Kavya, but is saved by Singam, and Ravi, who is hacked to death by Mayil. To escape from getting arrested, Mayil kidnaps the daughter of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Home Minister. Mayil falsely tells Singam that he is going to

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

with her, but he is actually going to

Nellore Nellore, also spelt as Nelluru, is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India.Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

to put the police off the track. However, Singam manages to pursue them till

Gudur Gudur, natively known as Guduru, is a town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Gudur mandal, Nellore district, Gudur mandal and Gudur revenue division. Demographics As of ...

near

Nellore Nellore, also spelt as Nelluru, is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India.encounter. Singam resigns from his job publicly in a felicitation function organised for him, where he heads back to Nallur with Kavya. Singam is stopped briefly by Ramanathan, who offers an undercover mission, to which he willingly agrees.

Cast

Production

Development

After Suriya had finished K. S. Ravikumar's '' Aadhavan'', discussions regarding his subsequent project, notably his 25th film, were held. Initially, reports emerged that it was going to be directed by

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu language films also appeared in few Kannada and Malayal ...

. At the launch of his film '' Seval'' in May 2009, however, director

announced officially that he would direct Suriya's 25th film titled ''Singam'' and that he had finished penning the script. Becoming Suriya's third film with Hari following ''

Aaru Aaru (; , ), or the Field of Reeds (, ''sekhet-aaru''), is the name for heavenly paradise in Egyptian mythology. Ruled over by Osiris, an Egyptian god, the location has been described as the of the Nile Delta. Ancient Egyptians believed th ...

'' and ''

Vel Vel () is a divine spear associated with Murugan, the Tamil Hindu god of war. Significance According to Shaiva tradition, the goddess Parvati presented the Vel to her son Kartikeya(also known as Murugan), as an embodiment of her shakti, in ...

'', it was announced that the project would release in July 2010. Suriya's cousin, K. E. Gnanavel Raja was announced as the producer.

Casting

Devi Sri Prasad Gandham Sriprasad (2 August 1979), known as Devi Sri Prasad or more commonly by his initials DSP, is an Indian music composer, singer, and lyricist primarily known for his work in Telugu cinema, along with Tamil cinema. He has received numerous ...

was chosen as the music director, thus becoming his third venture with Suriya. Suriya was revealed to play a police officer in the film, the second time in his career after '' Kaakha Kaakha''. Anushka was chosen to play the female lead after her second Tamil film Vettaikaaran. Priyan was chosen as the lead camera man and V.T. Vijayan as the editor.

Filming

After completing ''Seval'', Hari joined the cast and crew to start the filming in 2009. The shooting began in

Thirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest municip ...

district and was carried on in southern parts of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. A scene from the song "Stole my Heart" was shot in Creek Park in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

that was choreographed by Brinda. Afterwards, some scenes where shot in

. The main scenes were shot in Thiruvanmiyur,

. During December, Hari announced that the film wouldn't have a formal audio launch as per his previous films and that the shooting would get over quickly. The trailers were released on 24 February.

acquired the distribution rights, and

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

bought the music for a hefty price.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack, released on 9 May 2010, was scored by Devi Sri Prasad, marking his third collaboration with Suriya after ''

Maayavi ''Maayavi'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language black comedy film directed by Singampuli that stars Suriya and Jyothika (who plays a fictional version of herself), whilst Vijayakanth makes a cameo. The film's score and soundtrack ...

'' and ''

'' and with Hari for second time after ''Aaru''.

Release

''Singam'' was released on 28 May 2010 in 850 screens worldwide.

Reception

Critical reception

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Singam is a predictable entertainer that follows the age old formula, which might appeal to viewers who finds comfort in mass masala entertainers." ''

Rediff Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Singam is an unapologetic entertainer and has Suriya in every frame. Lovers of commercial potpourri will definitely get their money's worth." Bhama Devi Ravi of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Even with a sleepy narration in the first 30 minutes or so, ''Singam'' is worth a watch."

Box office

''Singam'' was the third highest grossing Tamil film of the year in Chennai, collecting more than 5.38 crore there. In

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and the United Kingdom, the film collected $1,471,508 and $12,956 respectively.

Remakes and dubbed versions

''Singam'' was remade in multiple different languages; in

as '' Singham'' (2011), in

as ''Kempe Gowda'' (2011), in Bengali as ''

'', and in Punjabi as '' Singham'' (2019). It was dubbed in Telugu under the title ''Yamudu'', and was released on 2 July 2010. Despite the

remake, the film was dubbed in Hindi under the title ''The Fighterman Singham''.

Sequels

The film's success lead to two sequels: '' Singam II'' (2013) and ''

Singam 3 ''Si3'' (short for ''Singam 3'', ) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Hari. Produced by Studio Green and Aadnah Arts, and distributed by Pen Studios, it is a sequel to ''Singam II'' (2013) and the t ...

'' (2017).

Awards

Filmfare Awards South

*Winner of Best Choreography –

Baba Bhaskar Baba Bhaskar is an Indian dance choreographer, director and actor who works mainly in Tamil and Telugu language films in addition to some Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada films. Career He was born and brought up in Chennai. Due to his interest in ...

for "Kadhal Vandhale" *Nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil - Suriya

In other media

Vivek, Santhanam and Soori parodied Suriya's character in the Malayalam film ''Oru Nunakkadha'' (2011), ''

Vellore Maavattam ''Vellore Maavattam'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by R. N. R. Manohar, starring Nandaa and Poorna in the lead roles. Produced by AGS Entertainment, the film was released on 5 October 2011. Cast P ...

'' (2011) and ''

Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam ''Varuthapadatha Vaalibar Sangam'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Ponram, in his directorial debut. Produced by P. Madan under the Escape Artists Motion Pictures banner, it stars Sivakarthikeyan, Sathyaraj, S ...

'' (2013), respectively. The famous line in the film, "Ongi Adicha Ondra Tonne Weight da!" (My hit is of one and half

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

in force!) was used in "The Punch Song", a song from the film, '' Aaha Kalyanam'' (2014).

References

External links

* {{Singam Indian action films 2010 action films 2010 masala films Films set in Chennai Films shot in Chennai Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Films shot in Tirunelveli 2010 films Tamil films remade in other languages Films directed by Hari (director) 2010s Tamil-language films Films scored by Devi Sri Prasad Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Fictional portrayals of the Andhra Pradesh Police Reliance Entertainment films Indian police films Singam (film series) Films shot in Oman Tamil-language Indian films